lake of the ozarks

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (AP) — A member of the Missouri State Highway Patrol says trooper training was deficient before the May drowning of a man under arrest in the Lake of the Ozarks.

Patrol Sgt. Randy Henry told a panel of state lawmakers Tuesday that the lack of proper training was obvious. He spoke during a second hearing in a review of the 2011 merger of the highway and water patrols.

A possible change to Missouri state schools has schools and organizations arguing against the proposed amendment.

Amendment 3 will change the focus of individualized learning in schools to focus more on state mandated standardized testing and teacher evaluation systems. The amendment wants to increase the number of state mandated standardized tests. This action will remove necessary classroom materials in order to fund the tests.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Superintendent Ron Replogle refused to comment Wednesday on the drowning of an Iowa man who had been taken into custody by state troopers on the Lake of the Ozarks on suspicion of boating while intoxicated.

Replogle was appearing at the first of two hearings by a state house committee that is looking into the merger of the Highway Patrol with the Water Patrol. House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, created the interim committee.

The pilot of a boat that collided with a Missouri State Highway Patrol boat on the Lake of the Ozarks is facing charges.

The Camden County prosecutor on Thursday charged 55-year-old Brian Pecenka, of Lake Ozark, with four counts of second-degree assault with a vessel and a misdemeanor of not displaying navigation lights on his boat.

The mother of two Boone County children electrocuted in a 2012 Fourth of July boat dock accident at Lake of the Ozarks is suing the utility company that owns the popular recreational lake.

A wrongful death lawsuit filed in July in Morgan County by Angela Anderson of Ashland claims that Union Electric Co. failed to notify lake dock owners of the need to install electrical protection devices known as ground fault interrupters. The utility operates under the name Ameren Missouri.

After several deadly accidents at Lake of the Ozarks over the last year, The Osage Beach Fire Protection District wants to make safety adjustments. Currently, the district is proposing to expand dock inspection requirements. Osage Beach Alderman and realtor Fred Catcott said the proposal is beneficial to those who use the lake.

“It gets rid of the people that want to go the cheap way out and not get them brought up to date," Catcott said. "[It] will grossly improve the safety of the lake.”

Flooding and concerns about water quality have prompted the closings of more public swimming beaches in Missouri.

The Department of Natural Resources says tests found high levels of bacteria at the day-use beach at Harry S. Truman State Park and the Grand Glaize Beach at the Lake of the Ozarks.

The beach at Mark Twain State Park is closed because of flooding and bacteria. The beaches at Thousand Hills State Park in Kirksville and Lake Wappapello in southeastern Missouri have been shut down by flooding.

Hartzler's district includes part of the Lake of the Ozarks that has been embroiled in controversy during the past year over land near the lake. Land included within the boundary of the hydroelectric project falls under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's authority, while other property does not.

A 26-year-old Hazelwood woman has died in another electrocution near a dock at Lake of the Ozarks.

The Lake Sun Leader reports that the woman was swimming with two children near Dry Branch Cove's 4-mile marker on Saturday night when a current of electricity hit the water. The two children were not injured.